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Dishing It Up
By Gay Cook
The Cat’s Meow
The Cheshire Cat offers traditional ingredients
and homestyle service
An evening spent at the Cheshire Cat in Carp is like
spending time in a delightful old-fashioned pub in
England. The original owners were fond of the stories
from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll so the name
cheshire cat from the story was a good fit for this Englishtype
pub.The decor on the walls is known as kilsch — a
motley mixture of local and old artwork intermingled with
scenes in the life of the royal family.
Dustin and Crystal Therrien purchased the pub three
years ago, which is located in a heritage building built in
1814.They have cherished the place ever since and have
made it into a gathering place where everyone can feel
comfortable.
“Our aim is to support local events like The Red
Trillium Studio Tour because those people come to our
establishment and we want to give back to those who back
us,” explains Crystal.
This year the Therriens, along with chef Eric Matolsci,
have begun growing some of the vegetables needed to supply
the kitchen. Chef Eric enjoys stepping out from the
back door to pick fresh herbs from a small herb garden at
the back of the pub.This is all part of the philosophy of the
pub to use local ingredients on the menu as they already
have in buying Fitzroy Harbour beef, bread from the
Stittsville Bakery, and desserts made locally.
The pub fare includes 17 beers on tap, from English,
Scottish and Irish choices to local Ontario beers.The top
sellers are Beau’s Lugtread from Vanleek Hill and Real Ale
from Heritage Brewery from Carleton Place. Another spe-
September 2008 • 40 • Fifty-Five Plus Magazine
cialty is the 60 Scotch selections — the largest selection in
Ontario. On Monday nights, live jazz sets the mood and
Friday offers a special grill menu. The food at the bar is
eclectic, from chips with gravy to deep fried pickles, fresh
vegetable platters, and vegetable samosas with mangocurry
dipping sauce and more.
Chef Eric hails from West Carleton and received his
chef’s papers from Algonquin College’s Culinary
Management program and oversees the menus and
kitchen.
“My aim is to keep food in its simplest form, allowing
individual flavours to shine and promoting healthy
lifestyles through the foods we eat,” says Eric. The dining
area serves an extensive menu, including the Cat’s Meow
Salad and Sweet Onion, Thyme and Goat’s Cheese Tarts.
Other menu choices are curried parsnip soup with roasted
vegetable wraps, salmon and herbs in parchment, and
Mediterranean stuffed chicken breast, asparagus and mushroom
pie.
The Cheshire Cat Pub is located at 2193 Richardson
Side Road in Carp.The phone number is 613 831-2183 or
visit www.cheshirecatpub.com.
Gay Cook is an Ottawa entrepreneur, food writer and
author of Mrs. Cook’s Foods.Watch this space for more of
Gay’s columns, where she will bring us stories and
recipes from the interesting people and places in our
communities.